Asia's Top Dance Moms Moments

She may have only been there for a short stint, but during her time on Dance Moms, Asia Monet Ray knew how to bring it, amping the stakes and notching the drama up a league.

Given she was nothing if not memorable, her top moments are likely going to be contested, but having trawled through her back catalogue of episodes, this is a fairly definitive list.

Asia as Broadway Baby

Introducing a newcomer into the ALDC is like introducing a new fish into a fish tank: you suspect it might get eaten within seconds of dropping the bag into the water. But hats off to Asia for not only holding her own as the newest member, but for rocking her first performance dressed up as a recently deceased dog. The week that Abby had her beloved Broadway Baby taxidermied, she paid tribute to her through the medium of dance. And Asia. Playing a dead dog is a hard role to nail, but Asia managed it.

The View replacement

If Asia was brought on to do anything other than dance, it was to give Mackenzie some competition, which she managed to do beautifully throughout the season. But things came to a head when a chance to dance on the The View came down to the two girls. Asia handled defeat like a pro when Abby finally picked Mackenzie.

The Too Hot to Handle dance

It feels weird to day this about a nine year old shimmying in pleather pants, but Asia really was too hot to handle in this dance. Mackenzie and Kendall's faces from the side-lines summed it up perfectly: somewhere between awe and upset as Asia pranced across the stage like the missing member of Moulin Rouge. Added props for her outright refusal to cry at the end of the show when Abby yelled at her for lip-syncing through half the act, before making an example of her to Mackenzie—pure sass.

Asia and Kristie's dance battle

It is rare that dancing from ANY of the moms works out in anyone's favour on this show, but props to Kristie for taking the bait when Asia challenged her to a dance off from the stage. Kristie's got some moves!

Vegas' flamingo dance

Because once again she's a dancing animal. And this is Vegas, where outfits made from pink feather boas are basically a necessity and she does justice to it beautifully. But most of all, because she did it with her trousers on backwards. We've all been there.

Probably my personal all time favourite Asia moment came during the extra deep episode when Abby choreographed a ‘cancer awareness' dance. As the company took some time out to talk about the disease, almost everyone had a personal memory to share, reducing all gathered to tears almost immediately. Asia's story? “Well my dad— this was before I was born— his dog Diablo died… and it was just really hard for him!” Comedy gold in an otherwise emotionally wrought moment. RIP Diablo.